THE JOURNEY OF WOMENS EDUCATION

Machiko Raheem
ENGL 137H
30/11/2015
The position of and the change of the position of women
throughout history is a widely discussed topic. There are many
aspects to it, and the change in how woman are viewed has many
different standpoints. I am going to discuss how the position of
women has changed over time from a religious standpoint. Different
religions are intrinsically linked, although many would vehemently
deny this notion, it is the truth. The fundamental teachings of
numerous religions are similar, and I am to discuss how there are
similarities between Judeo-Christian Theology, and Islam with regard
to the position of women, and more so, the reasons why in
numerous Middle Eastern and Islamic nations, there has been an
overall change in how Muslim women and invariably men, have
changed their outlook on the right to education and higher learning
of Muslim women.
Hegemony is defined as the leadership or dominance
especially by one country or social group over others. Raymond
Williams discusses how throughout history, changes in culture and
society as seen through arts, literature and manner of conduct, has
been gradual. It is not instantaneous, but rather the ideologies that
are considered dominant, change as a result of numerous
contributing factors.

Whilst reading the book The Lenses of Gender written by

Sandra Bem, one can see why the position of women is as it is
today. Bem identifies and attempts to analyze hidden assumptions
about sex and gender (that) remain embedded in cultural
discourses, social institutions, and individual psyches that invisibly
and systematically reproduce male power in generation after
generation (Bem. Lenses of Gender. Page 2). One specific aspect of
her novel discusses the notion of Androcentrism, which is defined
as the privileging of males, male experience and the male
perspective, which leads to defining women as the other.
Essentially, she discusses the idea of Androcentrism and how it ties
in with Judeo-Christian Theology, particularly how women are seen
as the lesser version of men, as seen through the story of Adam and
Eve.
When looking as the access to education by Muslim women,
one sees a changing curve. At the beginning, there was significant
emphasis placed on women and education. The creation of the
Quran, and Islam in general ushered in a new era. Women were
finally treated as equals, often in the verses, it can be seen that
women and men are to be rewarded equally; finally giving women
the same legal rights as men. Education was seen as in incredibly
important aspect of being a Muslim. Hadiths are authentic sayings
of the messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him
(pbuh), and one particular hadith clearly states Seeking knowledge
is mandatory for every Muslim referring to both men and women.

Throughout the Quran, although the term man is often used, it is

implicitly noted that the teachings apply to both genders, as they
show the manner in which all Muslims are expected to act. Another
Hadith states, If anyone travels on a road in search of knowledge,
Allah will cause him to travel on one of the roads of Paradise this
blatantly shows the importance of education in Islam.
In fact, there were numerous wonderfully intellectual and
powerful women during the time of Prophet Muhammed (pbuh),
specifically his first wife Khadijah Binte Khuwaylid, who was a prolific
tradeswomen; managing her own exporting business and
consequently employing several males in order to do so. Such
effective managing of a business as well as the employment of men
in Arabia during this time required one to have a significant amount
of knowledge and wisdom. A second example would be Prophet
Muhammeds (pbuh) last wife Aishah Binte Abu Bakr. She was
notoriously intelligent, and as a scholar she was credited with
narrating over 2000 Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet). She was
widely known for her wit and intellectual capacity and was seen as
one who greatly influenced both the men and women of Arabia.
As is blatantly obvious, during the 23 years it took to reveal
the Quran (which is the holy scripture of Islam), great emphasis was
placed on education; both the education of men and women. So why
is that that following the initial creation of Islam, yet before modern
Islam, best described as pre-modern Islam, followers of Islam,

particularly Islamic countries no longer allowed women to receive

any form of education?
The greatest fault lies with the prevailing patriarchal cultural
norms of Muslim nations. The 100 years following the death of
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) showed a movement away from the
basic Quranic ideal presented in the years of the Prophet (pbuh), to
a more culturally acceptable lifestyle. Most of the blame would lie on
the manner in which the hadiths and verses were interpreted. In the
Androcentric, patriarchal society, the verses were interpreted in a
manner that justified the notion that the only role of a woman was
to be housewife, bear children, cook, clean and cater to her
husbands needs. Consequently knowledge, and henceforth an
education was not seen as a necessity, let alone a right. Another
contributing factor would be the manner in which society regulated
how a woman should act. In the time of the Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh), woman and men were seen as equals, co-education was
considered normal, if not necessary for during that time a great
majority of the educated were in fact men, therefore they needed to
have the liberty of being in the presence of women in order to pass
on the knowledge that they possessed. However, in pre-modern
Islamic nations, an ideal woman was described as one that
remains at home and relies solely on the company of her husband.
She is not to leave the house or interact with other people, which
invariably rules out the possibility of co-education, in turn making
access to an education even harder.

In the Holy Bible, the legitimacy for the dominance of men is

seen through the fact that Paul refers to the creation of Eve out of
Adams rib. This underscores the idea presented in Androcentrism;
that women are a lesser version of men. Particular emphasis is
placed on the first sin, which was considered the fault of Eve, in turn
supporting the notion that the downfall of mankind is the fault of
women. (Paul to) 1 Timothy 2:13-14. This view was quickly and
prevalently adopted by numerous civilizations, making it a
fundamental catalyst in the return of women to their appropriate
roles as deemed by society. Quoting Williams, What we have to
see is not just tradition but selective tradition: and intentionally
selective version of shaping a past and a pre-shaped present, which
is then powerfully operative in the process of social and cultural
definition and identification. (Williams. Chapter 7 Page 115) This
emphasizes the notion that although Muslim nations used what they
deemed as tradition to legitimize their view on women, it doesnt
necessarily mean that one ought to take what they deemed as
tradition at face value.
It is important to note that the blame does not lie in the
teaching of religions in the world, be it Christianity, Catholicism,
Judaism or Islam, amongst others, but rather how the patriarchal
society perceives the teachings and the fact that it is interpreted in
a manner that supports the repression of women. Holy texts
themselves are incredibly powerful forms of rhetoric; those who are
educated will spread the knowledge of these texts in the manner in

which they interpret it; and no one disputes the word of God. There
is powerful ethos, for despite the fact that no one knows what God
himself looks like, people rarely dispute the idea that he exists, and
consequently believe in his power; which in turn causes believers to
listen to his word. As prominent writer Amina Wadud argues, the
fact that Judeo-Christian Theology depicted the creation of man as a
priority and woman as a mere afterthought only encouraged the
shift away from the prevailing equality in historic Islam.
With development comes access to knowledge, and
knowledge is power. It is an accurate statement to say that women
in numerous predominantly Muslim nations would have been
considered oppressed, not with regard to how they dress, despite
what a great majority of the worlds non-Muslim population may
believe, but because oftentimes this is by choice (they take pride in
upholding their culture), but rather with regard to their access to
education and positions of power and influence. The greatest
modern day example of the oppression faced by women in the premodern times in Arab nations would be the laws of the Taliban in
Afghanistan. It is important to note that the Taliban are extremists; a
great majority of their laws such as laws forbidding music, or
dancing among others are ludicrous and have no place in the Holy
texts, however their laws that strongly prohibit the education of
women and state that women are to remain at home and indoors all
the time are similar to the laws of the Arab lands that came to be in
the 100 years following the death of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

This is seen through the example of the young girl the world has
come to know and love, Malala Yousafzai.
In other predominantly Muslim nations such as Jordan,
sociologists have found that the pre-modern stereotype of a girls
role is ever-present. Nations such as Jordan are similar to countries
such as Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan. As a male dominated society,
change towards the liberation of women is very slow, and is met
with great resistance. This can be seen through the fact that in the
educational system, schoolbooks often reinforce stereotypical ideals
such as my father is working and my mother is cooking.
According to Dr. Nazih Hamdi, who is a sociologist studying the
education of girls in Jordan, 80% of all the girls she spoke to believe
that the first role of the woman was to stay at home and bring up
her children. Such a view is ingrained in the society and therefore
legitimizes the lack of the need for equal educational opportunities
for girls and women; for what is the use of mathematical or science
skills if one is going to be cooking and cleaning?
Since the mid-nineteenth century, particularly during the
years following the First and Second World War, the necessity of
women to be involved in the work of the nation as there simply
werent enough men as they were either fighting or dead was everpresent. Furthermore, the presence of news and media in general
enabled men and women to see different possibilities; consequently
there has been much questioning of the social restrictions placed on
women in Arab countries.

Taking Malala as a primary example, she is a young girl who

advocated for the right for women and girls to receive an education
in the Taliban controlled nation of Pakistan. The Taliban are seen as
one of the most stringent religion-based groups in the world, and
due to her outspoken advocacy for the right to education for
women, Yousafzai was seen as a threat, and was henceforth the
target of an assassination that she survived. The global recognition
that Malala gained did not escape the notice of the millions of young
men, women, boys and girls living in Muslim nations around the
world. It is this kind of global recognition that leads to the numerous
changes seen today in the modern Islamic nations.
It is evident that this change was not instantaneous, but
rather a gradual change in the outlook of the younger Islamic
generations. Be they Shiite, or Sunni (two separate bodies of Islam,
similar to Protestant and Anglican), both men women have become
more daring and more outspoken about their rights to education. It
is apparent that as more men and women were educated, more of
them would speak for the right to equality for women, and in turn
support the right to education of women. An influential male Muslim
historian, Mohamed Thalbi paid particular attention to how the
Quran was written and the content of the Quran and aimed to
exemplify the fact that the values of the radical Islamists, such as
the Taliban, have no basis and are completely unfounded. He
focused and spoke much about the topic of ihtiram mutabadal,
which means mutual respect; and how it was a central aspect of

the social relations in the earliest communities of Islam (such as the

time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)). The idea of mutual respect,
is intrinsically related to equal rights, and henceforth the view that
women should be able to receive the same education as men are for
their place is not solely to remain at home, give birth to and nurture
their children and husband.
A lived hegemony is always a process. It is not a system or
a structure. It is a realized complex of experiences, relationships and
activities, with specific and changing pressures and limits It has
continually to be renewed, recreated, defended and modified. It is
also continually resisted, limited, altered, challenged by
pressures (Williams Chapter 6 Pg. 112) Such writers as
mentioned above, are those who were greatly influential in the lived
hegemony of predominantly Muslim nations. Their works presented
the necessary pressures to alter the view of the existing hegemony.
The actions of these speakers are further underscored and
supported by influential women, such as Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser
Al Missned. She is the second of three wives of the Former Royal
Highness of Qatar. Qatar was once exactly like Saudi Arabia; they
followed the same rigid principles of Sunni Islam; and conformed to
patriarchal values with regard to womens rights. However, under
Sheikha Mozah, not only does Qatar now have some of the best
universities in the world that are open to both genders, Qatari law
now makes it mandatory that all Qatari women attend school past
the age of 10, which is absolutely groundbreaking. Sheika Mozah

herself is seen as one of the most influential women in the world,

following the likes of women such as Benazir Bhutto who was the
Prime Minister of Pakistan, from 1988-90 and 1993-96, Tansu Penbe
illerwho was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993-1996 and
Sheikh Hasina Wazed, who was the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
from 1996-2001 and returned as Prime Minister in 2009, a position
which she still holds in 2015. These women are changing the views
of Islam and the role of women in the contemporary world. As one
can see, the curve once again is rising, greater emphasis is being
placed on the education of women; moving past the patriarchal,
androcentric laws that were present in Muslim nations subsequent
to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, during the pre-modern
period.
The gradual change had numerous catalysts, from women
who dared to question and stand up against the norm, as well as
through the publishing of works and nationalist movements that
gathered the support of both the younger generations of men and
women. Finally, the upward trend has begun, and hopefully shall
continue till all women in Islamic nations are treated as the
teachings in the Holy Quran intended. In conclusion, as Williams
eloquently states, with regard to hegemony; a kind of feeling
and thinking which is indeed social and material, but each in an
embryonic phase before it can become fully articulate and
defined This process is a general change, rather than a set of
deliberate choices, yet choices can be deduced from it, as well as

effects (Williams Page 115). The change on the emphasis placed on

womens education, both in historical times and well as in modern
day Islam, is a general change; a detrimental change in the past to
a positive change in the present, which will hopefully continue.
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Bem, Sandra L. The Lenses of Gender: Transforming the

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Nov. 2015.
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Faisal, Safa. BBC News. BBC, 24 Sept. 2003. Web.

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Web. <http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/11/bok
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(Paul to) 1 Timothy 2:13-14